Sukkari Life

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Kleeja N'ice Cream!

I know, I know. It's winter in most places around the world. But do you expect me not to eat n'ice cream for a few months?? Hell no. 

If you don't live in the Middle East, you'd assume that it's not a big deal to eat something cold during "winter" in Saudi Arabia. But honestly, it's COLD!! Okay, sure it's not anywhere close to how cold the Midwest is or say Russia. It's still cold, though. The reason behind that is because our houses are usually not as warm as the ones in countries that experience harsh winters and the second reason is simply because we are not used to it.

Anyways, so what on earth is kleija? That's the whole reason why you clicked on this page. Kleija is a kind of biscuit we have here in Saudi Arabia. It's a hard shell made out of wheat flour with a gooey filling inside of it. It's filled with a thin layer of date molasses, sugar, cinnamon, and dried lime powder! SOO good. However, I don't eat them anymore because they're usually made with some kind of animal fat, but that's alright, I ate my fair share when my mother would bring me an entire tin of kleija during the winter months in the States.

My aunt's homemade mini kleija! They don't stay around for too long. Especially when they're fresh out of the oven.

A few years back in college when I came up with the idea of "ice cream kleija sandwich" hahaha

Whole dried limes. You can buy them like this or ground from Amazon or any international grocery store. 

 

Kleeja Nice Cream

Ingredients

  • 3 large frozen bananas (freeze when they're ripe and spotty) for exact directions read this
  • Dash of cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp dried lime powder
  • pinch of ground ginger
  • pinch of cardamom
  • pinch of allspice
  • pinch of nutmeg 
  • 1-3 pitted sukkari dates (or any type) optional 

Steps

  1. In a Vitamix (or any high-speed blender) or a food processor, add all of the ingredients
  2. Blend!
  3. If you're using a food processor, then add 2 tablespoons of water or almond/rice milk
  4. Top with your favorite crunchies.